Raleigh nonprofit gives hurricane victims furniture, hope

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— Imagine losing everything in a hurricane and having to start over.

The Green Chair Project in Raleigh has helped 200 families, setting them up with furniture, linens, kitchen items. They even come and put it all together.

It’s more than giving people furniture; they’re giving hurricane victims like Monnie Hunnings hope.

Hunnings, 66, is battling throat cancer and heart disease. He lost his Craven County home of 25 years during Hurricane Florence and moved into a trailer from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“I lost everything,” he said.

Now, he’s in a brand-new apartment, and it’s filled with everything he needs.

“We bring the essentials, which is living room furniture, dining room furniture, beds for everybody,” said Analia Lehmann, the Green Chair Project’s director of logistics. “We send linens. I’ve already set the bathroom with towels.”

Lehmann manages a team that delivers furniture to as many as 12 families in New Bern, Lumberton and Wilmington every week.

“You kind of get a little bit of everything, and it helps you make a meal,” she said.

Everything is donated or paid for with cash donations and grants.

The organization partners with other nonprofits to find people in need.

“You feel like you’re giving somebody hope and dignity and a chance to renew and start over,” Lehmann said.

Hunnings said the new start is exactly what he needed.

“My heart is filling up right now,” he said. “I love it.

“I’m very thankful for it, and I appreciate it,” he said.

The Green Chair Project said it will continue to help as long as there is a need and as long as they keep getting donations.